WWE Raw Open Discussion Thread 2/10/14

It has been a week, and the WWE Universe is still cheering over Daniel Bryan’s grueling victory over Randy Orton. Yet even though the former WWE Champion made a strong case for himself as the new “Face of WWE,” it’s a face from Bryan’s past – Kane’s – who may prove to be his undoing. While Bryan sorts out his issues with WWE’s monstrous Director of Operations, Randy Orton faces his next challenge, and the one and only Betty White drops by for this week’s Raw. Here’s what WWE.com thinks is in store. (via WWE.com)

Our five-point preview:

1. Good news: Big E Langston finally has his own t-shirt. Bad news: It’s bright red, because eventually every black guy in WWE has to look like the Kool-Aid Man. Can’t we get with the times and offer these shirts in a choice of colors?

2. Betty White guest hosts tonight’s Raw. I know her modern gimmick is “old lady says sassy stuff,” but I would kill for a backstage segment where she tries to explain why she can’t put Daniel Bryan into a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match with an example from St. Olaf.

3. Mark Henry returns tonight! I hope this has nothing to do with Betty White guest hosting. Henry’s baby mama did just die, and he has a type.

4. Randy Orton’s next Fight Everyone In The Elimination Chamber match happens tonight, and it’s against John Cena. I HOPE IT’S A NORMAL MATCH.

As always, our 10 favorite comments from tonight’s WWE Raw open discussion thread will be featured in tomorrow’s thankfully-on-time Best and Worst of Raw report. To nominate a comment for top 10 consideration, reply to it with a +1.

First time commenter, long time reader. Went to the show tonight and let me be the first to say that watching the Wyatt’s and Shield face off in person made me happy in my no-no zone.

There was a group of younger children in front of me, and I’m always of the mindset of not “ruining the magic”, so I had a great time justifying my smarky dislike of characters in a non-smark, but completely contextual way. For instance, I got asked why I didn’t like Batista and I said it was because he power bombed Del Rio through a table and now Cole, JBL and King have nowhere to put their water/notes and not because he’s stealing main events from more deserving performers.

Btw, the crew reassembling the table after the power bomb might have been my favorite thing ever if it wasn’t for that gang-war inspired boner mentioned up top.

The crowd was hot for the Real Americans and Cesaro, especially. Really looking forward to the inevitable HOSS MATCH with Cesaro and Sheamus, because holy crap those dudes can hit each other.

The Usos are incredibly impressive live and that midair tag got everyone going. Same goes for Bray’s interception into Sister Abigail.

I this point I’m just focusing on the Raw in Chicago on March 3 as maybe being a thing. Whether it’s the crowd being insane or maybe something happening with Punk, I think it’s the next time there’ll be anything to get excited about for me.

Call me crazy but, as I fell in and out of a drunken slumber during this episode of Raw, it seemed like nothing of value happened, nothing changed and nothing was learned nor revealed. So… good work all around?

jfc what the fuck is cenas issue. isn’t he tired of the redundancy and the irrelevance of his matches? i mean at this point it should it even count as a live show because all he does is the exact same thing every single time. like his spots his moves even how he sells is the same every single time

Can someone please explain to me the story they are trying to tell with Orton. He constantly looks like a cry baby, the Authority belittles him every week and he loses non-title matches all the time like he’s a mid-carder. Why is the champ booked so poorly. Are we not supposed to take him seriously? Are they establishing a pecking order for future title shots? What is going on?

They were establishing him as a guy who had lost his edge but was gaining it back, and turned into a total badass, and went crazy, beating Cena, Bryan, and just about anyone who got in his way, and would do whatever necessary to win.

Now he’s back to chump champion, who loses to everyone, and is lucky if he gets to keep the title ’till Mania.

The fundamental problem with an Orton vs. Cena is non-title match is their no stakes in it. If Cena wins, it doesn’t make Cena any more important. If Orton wins, it doesn’t make Orton any more important.

And since we’ve seen these two in every possible variation of a match with every possible outcome.

That was objectively a fine match but it was ultimately irrelevant. Nobody got ANYTHING out of it.